When Migrants from Africa leave their families behind

Migrants from Africa leave their families behind when they decide to leave for Europe. These migrants from Africa do not only leave, but they go on a dangerous journey. For the families left behind this means a lot of uncertainty. What happens when migrants leave Africa and never return to their families? And what drives these migrants to go on such a dangerous journey?

On April 18th 2015, a boat carrying more than 700 migrants sank to the bottom of the Mediterranean. It was the biggest maritime disaster since World War II. Thirteen victims came from this village in Senegal: Makakolibantang. What made the migrants leave in the first place? And who is that unknown victim that drowned? In this documentary Bram Vermeulen travels to a village where an unprecedented number of drownees appear to be coming from. Why did they have to run away from this place, where there are no wars, no dictature, and no natural disasters?

In The Trek, Dutch journalist Bram Vermeulen travels through Africa to get to know the key players in the migration debate. The Trek is a current and urgent travel series, close to the migrants in an attempt to understand more about the main debate topic of our time. It is about the migrants, and thus, also about ourselves.

In the village Makakolibantang in Senegal everything revolves around leaving and waiting for those who have left. In their prayers they try to ward off the dangers of the trip to Europe. If the departing family member fails to call from the other side of the Mediterranean people still hope that they arrived alive. Mostly they think there must be another reason why they are not able to call. But hope can also be cruel to a father who misses his son. What if you will never know if your son is still alive?

Original title: De drenkelingen (3/4) The Trek
Presentation and research: Bram Vermeulen
Director: David Kleijwegt, Alexander Oey
Research: Adelheid Kapteijn
Camera: Maarten Kramer
Sound: Wouter Veldhuis, Rik Meier
Editing: Chris van Oers, Daan Wierda
Mixage: Joost Oskamp
Grading and leader: Reinier van Brummelen
Producer: Alex Klippel

© VPRO November 2016

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